I have passed my post war and pewar trains on to my 7 year old grandson and we are up and running. My main job now is that if fixer. The prewar locmotive stops when exiting the straight path from 022 switch (only sometimes). My 2023 diesel runs through fine. I checked the voltages on the switch and the piece of track where the engine stops. All seems fine except that the voltage between the center rail of the switch and the "dead section" used for non-derail function is 23 volts. I am thinking that the voltage change in the rail as the engine passes to the next piece of track is causing the train to stop and idle. I have the proper pins in the proper places and the switch and the non derail function work OK. True for all of my switches. I checked 2 other switches on the layout and got the same voltage at the "dead rail" I power the track with a KW and the switches with constant voltage from the A and C terminals of a 1033 xfmr. I have a common wire from the U post on the KW to the A post on the 1033. I am at a loss to explaing this very high voltage? The only thing that I can think of is that my tranformers are not properly phased. Would that explain the high voltage?
Your transformers are likely out of phase with each other. That would explain the high voltage, but it should not matter in your situation. I would check your locomotive's pickups to be sure that they are both connected, that they both touch the center rail generally, and that they are spaced so that one of them is always over a live center rail going through the switch.
Bob Nelson
Thnkas for the reply. I will try to check all that out next time I get to the trains (at my daughters house).
But if the pickups are at fault why not the same problem at my other switches?? Hopefully I will find out.
I think that I am having as much fun as the grandkid. I dug these trains out about 6 months ago after give or take 50 years in the box and, iwth a lttle tweaking, all three work. 1950 -2023 diesel, 1934 -259E Loc, and a 1920-ish train that I have not yet identified due to repainting at some point.
Additional question. What should the voltmeter read between the center rail and the "dead rail" on an 022 switch with track powered and switches powered thru CV post?
If the pickups are just barely touching the center rail, small differences in the center rail heights among turnouts can make a difference in which ones work.
The open-circuit voltage between those rails is either the sum or the difference between the track voltage and the accessory voltage, depending on whether the two supplies are out of phase or in phase, respectively.
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